Sustainability and the Logistics Service Industry

Sustainability in business is clearly recognized as a very important topic which is intensively
discussed in theory and practice. (When it comes to the social and ecological aspects of
sustainability, the logistics and transportation industry is often considered one of the prime
suspects to be identified as a major polluter reluctant to implement changes and improvements.
A workshop was designed and organized in the fall of 2011 to start a discussion on the role that
the logistics service industry plays or should play in the sustainability business. The clear objective
was to work on the issue – not from the viewpoint of politics and society, not from the viewpoint
of industry and the retail sector, and not from that of academia ‐ but from the view of the logistics
service providers. In other words, the workshop was designed to help develop a clear statement of
the role of the logistics industry. A statement of the logistics industry’s role as the logistics industry
understands it.
This short paper recapitulates the red thread of the workshop discussions and ends with a
summary.
This summary is meant as a first draft of a manifest of the industry regarding their view towards
the topic of sustainability. It provides statements in response to four basic questions regarding
sustainability.
As this manifest is made by a focused, but in size and geography limited group, it is of course not
representative. Therefore we would like to encourage everyone from the industry in addition to
those from outside the industry to support us with comments. Tell us if and why you agree or not,
and how we could improve and augment the statements made.